Apprenticeships are growing. But experts say that without more funding, updated laws and better data, the U.S. is still far from the system they know is possible. The No. 1 thing missing, they say, is money. The most recent House Appropriations Committee bill to fund labor, health and human services, and education proposes $290 million for apprenticeships, up $5 million from 2026. That’s on top of the $145 million to support a pay-for-performance incentive program announced earlier this year. But apprenticeship researchers and advocates say that scaling participation to that one million number is a distant dream without long-term investments in apprenticeship infrastructure and pay for instruction, staff, wages and employer incentives, where applicable.